The short version
Wi-Fi 7’s headline feature is the 320 MHz channel, and 320 MHz channels only exist in the 6 GHz band. How much 6 GHz you get is a national decision, not a product decision — which is why the same router is faster in Dallas than in Dubbo.
Australia started with 500 MHz (5925–6425 MHz). On 1 October 2025 the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s new Low Interference Potential Devices class licence took effect and lifted the top of the Wi-Fi allocation from 6425 MHz to 6585 MHz. That is 660 MHz in total, and by the ACMA’s own arithmetic it means 2 × 320 MHz, 4 × 160 MHz, or various other combinations of 40, 80, 160 and 320 MHz channels can be used in a given location.
Two things did not change. The rest of the upper 6 GHz band (6585–7100 MHz) is being held for wide-area mobile broadband, so Australia will not follow the United States to a full 1200 MHz of Wi-Fi spectrum. And 6 GHz Wi-Fi here remains a low-power, indoor affair: standard-power outdoor operation is not permitted, and the framework that would allow it is still under review.
What the ACMA actually decided, and when
The sequence matters, because a lot of router marketing sits somewhere between the decision and the implementation.
- Lower 6 GHz (5925–6425 MHz) was opened to radio local area networks — Wi-Fi 6E and later — through an update to the LIPD class licence following the ACMA’s 2021–22 consultation. That is the 500 MHz Australian Wi-Fi 6E gear has been using.
- December 2024: in its outcomes paper on the future use of the upper 6 GHz band, the ACMA committed to adding 6425–6585 MHz to the class licence for RLAN use, stating that aggregated with the existing 500 MHz this “means that 2 x 320 MHz, 4 x 160 MHz or various other combinations of 40, 80, 160 and/or 320 MHz Wi-Fi channels can be used in a given location”. The same paper reserved 6585–7100 MHz for wide-area wireless broadband, with actual allocation deferred until equipment markets in major countries mature.
- 1 October 2025: the decision was implemented. The 2025 LIPD class licence replaced the 2015 instrument before it sunset, raising the upper bound of the RLAN items from 6425 MHz to 6585 MHz. The ACMA received 30 submissions on the remake; 10 addressed the 6 GHz RLAN proposal specifically, and they were, in the regulator’s words, polarised — supporters called the split at 6585 MHz pragmatic, while opponents argued the existing 500 MHz was still underused and pressed for out-of-band emission safeguards to protect future mobile services above the split.
So Australia now sits in the middle of the international spread: more Wi-Fi spectrum at 6 GHz than the 500 MHz common in Europe, less than the full upper band allocated in the United States, Canada and South Korea. If you have wondered why an imported router advertises channels your Australian unit does not offer, this is the reason.
The part nobody advertises: 6 GHz is indoor-only here
Australian 6 GHz Wi-Fi operates under low-power indoor and very-low-power arrangements. Standard-power outdoor operation — the mode that would let 6 GHz reach across a yard, a worksite or a fixed-wireless link — is not currently permitted.
The mechanism that unlocks it elsewhere is Automatic Frequency Coordination: a database service that checks a device’s location against incumbent fixed links and satellite earth stations, and hands back the frequencies it may use at higher power. The ACMA opened a discussion paper on AFC-assisted sharing across 5925–6585 MHz on 5 November 2025. Submissions were due 30 January 2026, extended at stakeholder request to 6 February 2026; the consultation is now under review. Coverage of the paper puts the standard-power ceiling under discussion at up to 36 dBm (4 W) EIRP, and notes a trial coordinated by the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association of Australia.
Practical read: if your plan for the new spectrum involves anything outdoors, it is not a 2026 plan. Keep 5 GHz for the shed.
Wi-Fi 7, briefly, and what is worth paying for
Wi-Fi 7 is IEEE 802.11be. The Wi-Fi Alliance launched its Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 program on 8 January 2024, well ahead of the IEEE publishing the final standard on 22 July 2025 — certification before ratification is now normal, and it is why 2024 routers are legitimately “Wi-Fi 7”. The headline features are 320 MHz channels, 4096-QAM (12 bits per symbol instead of 10, roughly 20% more theoretical throughput than Wi-Fi 6) and Multi-Link Operation, which is mandatory in the certification and lets a device use 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz simultaneously. The oft-quoted 23 Gbit/s is a theoretical single-band peak; real results are far lower.
Of those, MLO is the one that changes daily life. A 320 MHz channel is a short-range, same-room, line-of-sight luxury that also halves your channel count; MLO improves reliability and latency everywhere in the house by letting a client fail over or aggregate across bands. If you are choosing between two routers, weight MLO and 6 GHz radio quality over the biggest advertised number.
The market has moved: an estimated 583 million Wi-Fi 7 devices were expected to ship globally in 2025, and enterprise access-point shipments jumped from 26.3 million in 2024 to a projected 66.5 million in 2025, with 117.9 million forecast for 2026.
Should you wait for Wi-Fi 8?
No — and for an unusually clear reason. Wi-Fi 8 (IEEE 802.11bn, branded around “ultra high reliability”) is the first generation in about thirty years that does not lead with a bigger peak-speed number: it keeps essentially the same theoretical maximum rate as Wi-Fi 7 and spends its effort on reliability, bounded latency, fewer dropped packets and lower power in dense, interference-heavy environments.
The task group formed in May 2021 with a target standard-approval date of September 2028. Silicon is running ahead of that — Broadcom announced a Wi-Fi 8 product ecosystem in October 2025, prototypes appeared at CES 2026, and early retail products have been flagged for as soon as mid-2026, with enterprise gear expected mid-to-late 2027. First-generation pre-standard hardware is a poor deal for a home network, and the thing Wi-Fi 8 improves is least noticeable in a house with a dozen devices. Buy Wi-Fi 7 now if you need a router now.
What to actually do about it
| Check the band, not the badge | The extra 160 MHz only helps if your router is authorised and configured for Australian operation up to 6585 MHz. Gear certified before October 2025 may still cap at 6425 MHz. Ask the vendor whether a regulatory or firmware update extends the range on your model — do not assume it. |
|---|---|
| 320 MHz is a same-room feature | Wide channels trade range for speed and consume half the band. Expect the benefit at the desk beside the router, not at the other end of the house. |
| Prioritise MLO | Multi-link operation is mandatory in Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 and does more for real-world reliability and latency than any channel width. Your client devices need to support it too. |
| Outdoors stays on 5 GHz | Standard-power outdoor 6 GHz is not permitted in Australia. The AFC consultation closed 6 February 2026 and is under review — treat outdoor 6 GHz as a future possibility, not a purchase. |
| Sanity-check the bottleneck | A 320 MHz channel does nothing for a connection limited by your internet service. Wide-channel Wi-Fi is for moving data inside the house. |
| Do not wait for Wi-Fi 8 | Ratification is targeted for September 2028, and the gains are reliability and latency in dense environments rather than speed. Early hardware will predate the final standard. |
The bottom line
Australia’s 6 GHz band got a third bigger last October, and almost nobody noticed — because spectrum decisions arrive as class-licence amendments rather than product launches. The upshot is genuinely useful: two 320 MHz channels instead of one, more room for neighbours to coexist, and a stronger case for buying a 6 GHz-capable router in 2026. The limits are just as real. There is no path to the full 1200 MHz the United States allocated, because Australia has parked 6585–7100 MHz for mobile. And until the AFC work concludes, 6 GHz remains something that happens indoors.
Sources
Facts and dates above are drawn from these primary and reputable sources, captured 2 August 2026:
- ACMA — Future use of the upper 6 GHz band, outcomes paper (December 2024): commitment to add 6425–6585 MHz to the LIPD class licence, the 2 × 320 MHz statement, and the 6585–7100 MHz reservation for wide-area wireless broadband.
- ACMA — Remaking the Low Interference Potential Devices class licence, outcomes paper (September 2025): implementation of the 6425–6585 MHz RLAN arrangements in the 2025 LIPD class licence, and the submissions for and against.
- ACMA — Views on 6 GHz band spectrum sharing for Automatic Frequency Coordination: consultation opened 5 November 2025, closing date extended to 6 February 2026, now under review.
- Global Validity — Australia’s ACMA considers AFC for 6 GHz Wi-Fi (12 November 2025): the 36 dBm standard-power figure, the current low-power indoor and very-low-power restriction, and the WISPAU trial.
- Global Validity — Australia finalizes new class licence for low interference devices: 1 October 2025 commencement, and the region-locking obligation on equipment.
- IEEE 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7): Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 launched 8 January 2024, final standard published 22 July 2025, 320 MHz channels, mandatory MLO, 4096-QAM, 23 Gbit/s theoretical peak.
- Network World — Wi-Fi 8 in 2026: next-gen wireless standard prioritizes reliability over speed gains (5 January 2026): 802.11bn task group formed May 2021, September 2028 target approval, reliability-first design, Broadcom’s October 2025 ecosystem launch, and the Wi-Fi 7 shipment figures.